He was supposed to buy that the guy was just letting him walk? “Nothing in this world is free,” Ethan said, giving Victor those same words back.
Victor looked toward the open cell door, then back at Ethan.
Ethan knew more was going on there—a whole lot that he didn’t understand. He would, though, soon enough. For that moment…
He was getting his ass out of there.
Ethan took his time walking out of the holding area and through the station. Victor even gave him street clothes to change into—something damn else that he’d owe the guy for at a later date. And as he finally made his way through the bullpen, some cops stopped what they were doing and glanced his way.
That’s right, boys and girls…the criminal walks.
Only they weren’t looking at him with anger.
And Ethan got uncomfortable as he headed toward the door.
He stepped out into the New York night…
“I swear, your tab just keeps growing with me,” Sophie Sarantos told him.
He turned to the side. She’d been standing in the shadows. Now she stepped forward into the light cast by a street lamp and waved her fingers at him. “Hi, there, Trouble.”
“You got me out.” Sophie was one of his oldest friends. And Victor had been right—one hell of a lawyer.
Sophie and Faith were opposites—he’d always thought so. Faith played down her attractiveness, but Sophie, well, she used it ruthlessly. Right then, she was dressed in a tight pencil skirt and a low cut top. Her dark hair tumbled over her shoulders and her golden skin—courtesy of her Greek ancestry—gave her an exotic flare beneath the harsh lights.
“I worked a little magic.” She put her hand on his shoulder and steered him toward the waiting car. When he climbed inside, he wasn’t particularly surprised to see Sophie’s lover, Lex Jensen, behind the wheel. Lex glanced back at him, giving Ethan a long, unreadable stare.
Ethan sighed and leaned back against the leather seat. “You’re not just going to drive me to some remote spot and dump my body, are you, Lex?” He closed his eyes, feeling weariness pull at him. But, instantly, Carly’s face flashed in his mind’s eye. Her face—her fear, her horror. Dammit.
“Tempting,” Lex muttered. “But I think that’s more your style.”
True enough.
A car door slammed. “I heard that Lex,” Sophie scolded. “I told you, play nice.”
Ethan laughed. Lex might look like the typical American good-boy with his blond hair and pretty-boy face, but that guy could be as hard core as he wanted to be. Lex was part of VJS Protection, Inc., and that fellow played plenty rough when he wanted.
That roughness was why Ethan was glad the guy had wound up with Sophie. Ethan liked to know that his friend was safe, and with a fighter like Lex ready to destroy anyone who so much as looked the wrong way at her, well, Sophie was certainly safe.
The car accelerated as Lex took them to—well, wherever the hell they were going.
“Aren’t you going to ask about her?” Sophie asked.
His jaw locked. “How did you find out I was locked up?”
“A trusted source.”
“Your BFF—Faith, right?” Figured. Opposites with their clothes, but down deep, where it mattered—just alike. Fighters. And both with hearts that were too damn big. Hearts that could get them into trouble. No wonder they met weekly for their chat time—like I don’t know about that. He made it a point to know everything that went down in D.C. And one thing he definitely realized—those two women got each other.
“Leave my BFF out of this.” A light note had entered Sophie’s voice. Odd, Sophie wasn’t given to a lot of humor. Especially not on nights like this one. He cracked open one eye. They were moving fast through the city, and her face was in the shadows. “Ethan.” The lightness faded from her tone. “Why aren’t you asking about Carly?”
Because it hurts. “All I need to know…” Did he sound choked up? Hell, he did. He cleared his throat. Coughed. “I just need to know that she’s somewhere safe.”
Silence.
“Sophie…”
“She’s safe, Ethan.”
He nodded.
“What were you going to do?” Sophie wanted to know. “Trade your crimes—for her life? Offer a deal to the FBI?”
“It wasn’t a bad plan.”
“No, but not a good one, either. Speaking as your lawyer, it seriously sucked.”
“Not if it got her safety in return.”
They traveled more in silence.
“I’ve got you a room at a hotel,” Sophie finally said. “The presidential suite, because I know how you like your comfort.”
After living in squalor, yeah, he’d learned to appreciate fucking comfort. “When you have nothing,” he said, knowing he was revealing too much with Lex there, but so what? Sophie had been with Ethan when he’d been in the gutter. “You want it all.”
Only…what would he trade to have another chance with Carly? To have her not look at him as if he were a freak?
Worse…
A killer.
I am what I am.
Sophie pressed a keycard in his hand. “Floor thirty-six,” she told him. “Get some sleep tonight, and I’ll meet you in the lobby first thing tomorrow. The place has excellent security—”
“I made sure of that,” Lex added.
“So you can rest without worrying. In the morning, we’ll talk and I’ll tell you everything I discussed with the cops.”
The car had pulled to a stop. Weary now, Ethan just shook his head. “As long as you didn’t sell my soul to them for my get-out-of-jail free card, I don’t really care what you discussed with them.”
He climbed from the car. She didn’t follow him, but Sophie did reach out and grab his wrist. “I thought you’d lost your soul a long time ago.”
He smiled at her. “I did. I gave it to a seventeen-year-old girl…a beautiful girl who was willing do to anything in order to save my sorry ass.”
“Ethan…”
“Good night, Sophie. And don’t worry, I’ll pay you back for this.”
He pulled away from her.
“No, Ethan, you won’t. This time, I’m paying you back. We both know I owe you, far more than can be repaid.”
Sophie—she’d always had a good heart. Lex had better treat her like the princess she fucking was.
Ethan headed into the swanky hotel. At this hour, the lobby was deserted. Good. Since the place was empty, no one gave him a second glance as he strode around the swank hotel in his loaner jeans and T-shirt.
He rode the elevator up. Stared at his bedraggled expression in the glass. Huh. How about that? He was definitely looking like more of a monster these days.
The elevator dinged when it hit the top floor. The lush carpet swallowed the sound of his footsteps. He used the keycard to enter the suite. It was dark inside. Not pitch black, though, because lights from the skyline spilled in from the floor to ceiling windows.
Those lights spilled in…and spilled on her.
Carly rose from the couch. She was wearing a light blue gown. She took a step toward him, her hands outstretched—
Ethan shook his head.
Carly froze.
“You aren’t here.” He shut the door behind him. Locked it. “You’re some place safe. Sophie told me…you were safe.”
Hesitantly, she advanced toward him. Her feet were bare and her hair slid over her shoulders. “I am safe, Ethan,” she said. “I’m always safe with you.”
She was less than a foot away. He could reach out and touch her. Instead, his hands balled into fists. “I tried to do one good thing. I tried again—for you.”
“What did you try?” Her voice was soft. Husky. Tempting. He hadn’t looked directly into her eyes, not yet. He was afraid of what he’d see.
“I tried to let you go.” His voice was a stark contrast to hers. Rough and grating, and he wanted so badly to touch her. “Like before, I was going to stand back…you were going to w
alk away.”
“But that’s not what I want.”
He stared over her shoulder. He couldn’t look into her eyes, not then. “I saw, baby. Your fear and pain and—”
“I saw, too, Ethan. I saw that you’d do anything for me. Just as I would do anything for you. And I finally realized something I should have known long ago. I saw the truth that I missed before.”
Don’t look in her eyes, don’t… “What was that?”
“You love me.”
His gaze shot to hers. To her beautiful eyes. So deep. Deep enough that, hell, yes, he’d lost his soul to her years ago. His soul. His heart. Everything good.